I came to Raqqa, and one of my companions said to me, "Would you like to meet a man who was among the companions of the Prophet ﷺ?"I said, "What a windfall."So we went to Wabisah. I said to my companion, "Let us first observe his appearance." He was wearing a close-fitting cap with two flaps, and a dusty silk burnoose, and he was leaning on the staff he used for prayer.After we greeted him, he said, "Umm Qays bint Muhsin told me that when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ grew old and gained weight, he took a post in his place of prayer to lean upon."
قدمت الرقة، فقال لي بعض أصحابي: هل لك في رجل من أصحاب النبي ﷺ؟ قال: قلت: غنيمة. فدفعنا إلى وابصة قلت لصاحبي: نبدأ فننظر إلى دله، فإذا عليه قلنسوة لاطئة ذات أذنين وبرنس خز أغبر، وإذا هو معتمد على عصا صلاته. فقلنا بعد أن سلمنا. فقال: حدثتني أم قيس بنت محصن: أن رسول الله ﷺ لما أسن وحمل اللحم، اتخذ عمودا في مصلاه يعتمد عليه.
Abu Dawud (948) narrated it from Abdul-Salam bin Abdul-Rahman Al-Wabisi, who said, my father told us, from Shayban, from Husayn bin Abdul-Rahman, from Hilal bin Yasaf, and then he mentioned it. Hakim (1/264-265) narrated it through another route from Shayban bin Abdul-Rahman with his chain of transmission. He said, "Sahih according to the criterion of the two Shaykhs, except that they did not include Wabisah bin Mabad because of a flaw in the route leading to him."I say, no one except Ibn Hibban rated Abdul-Salam bin Abdul-Rahman Al-Wabisi as reliable, and this is why the Hafiz said in Taqrib, "Acceptable," meaning when corroborated, and this is indeed the case. His father, Abdul-Rahman, who is the son of Sakhr bin Abdul-Rahman bin Wabisah Al-Raqqi, is "unknown," as stated in Taqrib. This is what Hakim is referring to when he says, "They did not include Wabisah bin Mabad because of a flaw in the route leading to him." However, he himself narrated it through another route corroborating them, and with this the chain of transmission of this hadith becomes hasan.This hadith provides evidence that a sick person, or one whose body has become heavy from excess flesh and who fears falling when he stands, may lean on a staff, or on a wall, or on anything that protects him from falling.